All Might had not expected this.
He had just stepped out of the police station after parting ways with Tsukauchi. He had not even started looking yet.
And there he was.
Shigaraki Tomura.
For a second, even All Might was caught off guard.
It was too convenient.
He had only just decided to find the boy, and the boy had appeared on his own.
"Yo. Long time no see, All Might."
Standing a short distance away, Shigaraki greeted him with an easy smile, as if running into the Number One Hero outside a police station was completely normal.
Then, before All Might could speak, Shigaraki tilted his head and grinned.
"Let me guess. You were just about to come looking for me, right?"
A little later, the two of them were sitting in the same café as before.
Same warm lighting.
Same quiet corner.
Same awkward atmosphere.
And, as if fate had no imagination at all, the same oversized meal set had been placed in front of Shigaraki.
All Might sat across from him, watching the blue-haired boy focus entirely on the food. His fork moved with steady purpose. He showed absolutely no intention of speaking first.
All Might waited.
Shigaraki kept eating.
All Might waited a little longer.
Shigaraki still kept eating.
Finally, All Might cleared his throat.
If he didn't start the conversation himself, he had a terrible feeling the boy would eat until the café closed and still pretend nothing needed to be said.
Worse, based on what he knew of Shigaraki, that wasn't even an unreasonable guess.
"Ahem… Shimura-kun."
Shigaraki didn't look up.
All Might forced a smile onto his thin face.
"How did you know I was at the police station? As far as I remember, the news only said I appeared in N City. It shouldn't have mentioned exactly where I went."
Only then did Shigaraki glance at him.
"Oh, the news?" he said casually. "I didn't watch it."
He swallowed a mouthful of food, took another bite, then continued in the same lazy tone.
"I was just passing by the police station. Running into you there was an accident."
He paused for half a second, then leaned back slightly.
"As for how I knew you were planning to find me…"
A faint smile touched his lips.
"That part was obvious enough if you paid attention to what the police have been doing lately."
Then his expression brightened, as if he had suddenly remembered something far more interesting.
"Actually, compared to that, I'm more curious about something else."
He tapped his fork lightly against the plate.
"Those police officers…"
His red eyes gleamed with mischief.
"They must find me extremely annoying by now, right?"
All Might stared at him.
Then he sighed.
"So you do know."
He rubbed his forehead, looking utterly exhausted.
"If you know that much, couldn't you at least calm down for a while?"
This boy clearly understood that the police were losing sleep over him.
And yet he kept going.
Did he have no intention of giving them even one peaceful week?
Shigaraki spread his hands, looking almost innocent.
"What can I do? I'm desperate too."
He sounded like the victim.
"There are too many bad people in the world. Every day, I work hard to punish evil and uphold good, but they keep appearing one after another."
He clicked his tongue and shook his head with theatrical despair.
"Cut down one crop, and another grows right back."
Then he looked at All Might with a face full of tragic helplessness.
"So what am I supposed to do? I'm in despair too, you know?"
He even placed a hand over his chest.
"And besides, if I just watched those things happen around me and did nothing…"
He sighed deeply.
"I'd feel terrible."
"Truly terrible."
"So in the end, I can only trouble those hardworking police officers to clean up afterward."
All Might nearly rolled his eyes.
Listen to this brat.
The way he said it, he sounded like a saint working tirelessly for the people. As if the police would be the real villains if they refused to support him.
Shameless.
Utterly shameless.
The worst part was that he said it with such a sincere face that All Might almost wanted to applaud.
Almost.
For the first time, All Might felt that he might have underestimated Shigaraki.
Not his strength.
Not his intelligence.
But the sheer thickness of his skin.
Since there was no chance of winning against this boy in a contest of nerve, All Might decisively changed the subject.
"Putting that aside…"
He gave Shigaraki a curious look.
"Aren't you interested in why I came to find you?"
This time, Shigaraki answered immediately.
"What's there to be curious about?"
He propped his cheek on one hand, completely unconcerned.
"You came to tell me to stop. Obviously."
"That much is easy to guess."
Then he smiled again.
A bright, sly smile that made it clear he was thinking about something else.
"If anything, I'm more curious about who has enough pull to send the great Symbol of Peace running back and forth just to talk to a nobody like me."
All Might gave him a long look.
A nobody?
What nonsense.
By now, the name Dark Knight had spread far enough that even All Might had heard it more than once.
This boy was anything but a nobody.
Still, after a brief pause, All Might decided there was no point hiding it.
Even if he refused to answer, Shigaraki could probably find out by investigating who he had met today.
If the boy was asking directly instead of checking on his own, it probably meant he simply didn't feel like wasting the effort.
So All Might answered honestly.
"He's an old friend of mine."
"Tsukauchi Naomasa."
Then he narrowed his eyes slightly.
"But why do you want to know?"
He was genuinely curious.
What possible reason did Shigaraki have for asking about Tsukauchi?
It couldn't be simple curiosity.
And All Might certainly didn't think the boy was interested in grown men in that sense.
"Tsukauchi Naomasa…"
Shigaraki repeated the name softly.
His eyes narrowed.
The moment he heard it, a face surfaced in his memory.
The detective from the original story.
The investigator who worked closely with the heroes against the League.
If he remembered correctly, that man's name was indeed Tsukauchi Naomasa.
Which meant All Might's old friend was almost certainly that same detective.
Unless this world happened to have two Tsukauchi Naomasas.
Unlikely.
That explained a lot.
No wonder the man could keep moving All Might to act as mediator.
A friend of many years had that kind of weight.
After sorting that out, Shigaraki nodded lightly.
"Oh, nothing complicated."
He waved a hand casually.
"It's just that if I ever need to ask you for a favor in the future, I'm worried I won't be able to find you."
"So I thought I'd figure out in advance who can contact a busy man like you."
That much was true.
The reason he had been wandering near the police station today was to find out who inside had direct access to All Might.
He just hadn't expected his luck to be this good.
Before he even needed to investigate, All Might had walked out on his own.
Really.
What a fortunate day.
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